Click here for Astrid's video messageMatthew 22:15-22 Isaiah 45:1-719th Sunday after TrinityWherever and whenever there are people on this earth there will be politics. And wherever and whenever there are politics, there will be problems. There are political tensions on this side of the world at present over the battle against the Coronavirus; and there are political tensions on another continent over who is to win the presidential election, to name but a few. And it’s none of it very subtle. Heavy debates and trick questions galore! You could almost say that wherever you go, the air is filled with political tension; it’s all around us. Now that is nothing new: So let’s have a look first at Isaiah 45, verses 1 to 7.At the time of the prophet Isaiah, the people of Israel were in a bit of a pickle. Several times already they had wandered off and chosen to follow idols, denying that God was the only god, even though he was the one who had saved them from their life of slavery in Egypt. People’s memory seemed to get shorter by the minute; as soon as life threw some kind of challenge at them, they ran away, thinking the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. Not exactly the kind of nation that God had intended them to be! And so, God intervenes. Not only does he send a prophet to let the people know what is going to happen, but he also makes use of the political situation of the time. Cyrus the Second (558-530 BC), founder of the Persian Empire, is designated by the Lord as his ‘anointed’ or messiah and commissioned to conquer Babylon and other nations, and to do all this on behalf of the people of Israel. Isaiah 45 is the only biblical passage in which ‘messiah’, i.e., anointed ruler, refers to a non-Israelite. Cyrus is here appointed as the Lord’s shepherd, and becomes God’s instrument, to make it very clear that it’s the Lord alone who dictates the course of history. As an aside: Cyrus later attributes his success to a Babylonian god, but his victorious achievements will include the release of exiled Israelites and the restoration of Jerusalem, so we can see how God’s intervention works.Fast forward more than 550 years, and we find Jesus, the ultimate Messiah – with a capital ‘M’ – in the first of a series of debates with the local leaders. The enmity between Jesus and his followers and local leaders is now no longer hidden but rather quite overt. The Herodians, who team up with the Pharisees here, were the political supporters of the Herods; and because the Herods were from a non-Jewish area, many Jews did not regard their clan as legitimate rulers of Israel. Again: politics. So, this bunch of Herodians and Pharisees’ students come up with a plan to entrap Jesus. They are prodding him with a question that they hope will get him confused and muddled up, and, ultimately, make him incriminate himself. The question of tax is always a good one to divide people. In this case, to approve of the tax, which was being levied by a hated oppressor, would be offensive to Jewish nationalists. But to disapprove would be treasonous. Either way, Jesus is going to trip up, or so they think. Trick questions that put people on the spot have been around as long as there have been public and political issues. And the double edge of this one is immediately clear. Jesus’ reply is one that turns the tables. It shows that the leaders are carrying the hated coinage with the face and the inscription of the emperor themselves. What’s more, though, is that they have been found wanting in giving to God what belongs to God. Jesus countered the challenge of the Pharisees to him with a challenge in return: Were they, rather than Jesus, compromised? Had they really given full allegiance to God? Had they not rather been playing games, trying to keep Caesar happy while talking about God?If politics make one thing clear it’s that you can’t be in two camps at the same time. Either the one or the other will find you out and throw you out. Sitting on the fence, we may call it, but that always turns out as a bit uncomfortable, apart from the risk of falling off, on the side where you really don’t want to be.Jesus was going to fulfil God’s plan of salvation regardless of personal or political danger. He was continuing to walk straight ahead; and the kingdom of God would defeat the kingdom of Caesar, by the victory of God’s love and power even over the empire of death itself. In the light of our present day situation, personal, political, and even global, the question to us still is how we give to God what is God’s, so that we are truly safe and his mission is carried out in the world. May our prayer be that we don’t trip up. Amen.
Click here for Astrid's video messageMatthew 22:1-14 Isaiah 25:1-918th Sunday after TrinityWhat’s so good about a party? I think we’d all know how to answer that question! Unless, of course, we don’t like them at all. But one very good thing about a party is being invited. Somebody has taken the trouble to invite people to celebrate with them, and, whatever the reason for a party, it’s nice to know that you are included. If it’s a very special party, we take some extra care to dress up. Especially if there’s a dress code, like for weddings.The image of a wedding is an important one in the story of God:At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he turned water into wine at a wedding feast. Now, towards the end of his ministry, he uses the image of a wedding feast in a parable about some people’s refusal to enter the Kingdom by those originally invited. The idea that the Kingdom of God includes a large wedding banquet may be a far cry from some people's belief that God is stern and strict, and would, generally speaking be against all forms of fun. But God is not against fun at all; he is just against things that we would call ‘fun’ but that are actually dangerous to our own mental and physical health or that of others, and that’s different. A child may think it fun to run across a busy street, but a good parent would see the danger the child is ignorant of; it’s that sort of thing.And now we have this passage from Matthew chapter 22: the parable of the wedding feast. In the eyes of everybody at the time, a wedding feast was an important event, a highlight of the year, topped only by a wedding feast for a royal. In the first part of the parable, a king gives a wedding banquet for his son, and when it is all prepared and ready, he sends out his servants according to custom, to bring in the invited guests. However, they don’t want to come: one after the other makes excuses or even ill-treats the king’s servants. At the end, the king gets very angry and destroys their city, and then has other people called in to the feast: the lame, the beggars, the no-goods, everybody else who would want to come is called in to celebrate, and they respond.In the second part of the parable, the theme is the same but seen from a different angle: a man is spotted by the king at the wedding feast and who doesn’t wear a ‘wedding robe’. The man can’t give a proper explanation as to why he is not appropriately dressed, so he’s thrown out in quite an elaborate way. It seems over the top: what’s so bad about not being dressed in wedding robes? Apart from the horror a lady might feel when she notices she is wearing the same dress as another woman at a wedding, it doesn’t really matter, does it? Well, like the first part of the parable, the story is about preparedness. Being prepared for God’s ultimate wedding banquet, which is an image of heaven, means accepting his Son, Jesus, as the Son of God. And like the previous parables, those who were invited first, the religious people of Israel, would forgo the banquet by refusing the Son. And others, who had been ‘forgotten’ or alienated, would instead go in to the wedding banquet.If you got an invitation to a royal wedding, would you say, ‘I’ve just got a new car, and I want to try it out, so I won’t come’? Wouldn’t you rather get some new clothes and make sure to be there on time? And if you still went without wanting to give honour to the host, wouldn’t you risk being thrown out? The two parts of the parable are telling the story of how it will go for those who decline the gift of God’s salvation and his super wedding party to which we’re all invited.Let me paraphrase it with a little joke:An atheist was lying in the funeral parlour. The mortician put the finishing touches to the body and sighed: ‘Look at him – all dressed up and nowhere to go.’Let’s not be like that. Let’s be ready to accept God’s invitation to the wedding feast of his Son. And rejoice in the new clothes for the party! Amen.
Click here for Astrid's video messageMatthew 21:33-end Philippians 3:4b-1417th Sunday after TrinityIn the early months of lockdown, many people began to do jobs around the house and garden. DIY became ever more popular: finally redecorating the spare bedroom and turn it into a den or an office; doing up the kitchen or bathroom; and digging vegetable plots – with great results in the glorious weather of this year’s summer! Others turned to baking; so much so, that very soon there were no eggs to be had at the supermarket, nor any flour! (What the shortage of loo rolls was all about, I shall not dig into for now…)But, whether you like baking or building, one thing you need to know about these activities, is that for a good result, you need to follow certain guidelines. If a recipe for carrot cake states that it needs carrots, and you leave them out, or put in aubergines instead, a disappointing result will be hardly surprising. Or, if you decide not to use a plumb line when building a brick wall, you should not complain if it turns out less than straight, or any other example that’s equally ridiculous.Anybody who has ever been involved in building, knows that a solid build needs a firm foundation and the right design, as well as suitable building blocks. And every baker worth their oven, understands the importance of following a recipe and finding the right ingredients. So, what’s all that got to do with the Bible message for today?Well, there is a certain sequence indicated in the parable that Jesus told, that reflects the history of Israel, and what is about to happen in the near future. It’s about cause and effect, or ‘recipe and result’.In order to understand it, we need to find the background of the story which is in Daniel 2, where the king asks Daniel to interpret his dream. In this dream, he saw a large statue: its head made of gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet of a mixture of iron and clay. Then a big stone came and smashed the feet of iron and clay; and the whole statue crashed down into a million pieces. But the stone itself became a great mountain, filling the whole earth. The interpretation of this dream was that the different parts of the statue represented different kingdoms, one after another, and the last one being destroyed by the stone. The interpretation would have been quite clear to Jesus’ listeners: the kingdoms of the world – Babylon, Persia, Rome – had been going on until then, with perhaps the shady alliance between Herod and the chief priests coming last. And now the Stone – the Messiah – had swept them away and would begin a new kingdom, quite unlike any that came before. This Stone, the Son, whom the builders rejected, is now the cornerstone, the one on top, where it alone would fit, at the place of the highest honour. And on this Stone, anything that is against God’s plan will be crushed. He is God’s Anointed (what Messiah means) and will bring in the kingdom of God that will make the kingdoms of the world shake and fall.The parable, then, is an allegory, in which the vineyard is Israel; the vineyard owner is God; the farmers are the religious leaders; the slaves or servants are the prophets, ending with John the Baptist; and the son is of course Jesus himself. Jesus is telling this parable quoting from Psalm 118 and Daniel 2, interpreting his own story, and becoming the stone which the builders rejected.Jesus has come to confront the tenant farmers at last, calling for repentance, and for them to be filled with the light of God for the sake of the world. Alas, the Stone is to be rejected, as the religious leaders will refuse to listen and will end up killing the Son. It’s an uneasy story to engage with, of pain and power, and yet it is one that we need to hear, so that we can learn how to respond to God’s word of love in the face of today’s challenges. In his parables, Jesus uses images of everyday activities to bring home the truth. For us, the days of excessive baking and building may have already gone, and of course, the pandemic is not just about a shortage of flour and loo rolls, although, no doubt, it’ll be part of our collective memory of this time. It may all be part of God building his kingdom. So let’s honour the Son, who is the top cornerstone and who is holding us all together. Amen.
Click here for Astrid's video messageMatthew 21:23-32 Philippians 2:1-1316th Sunday after Trinity – HarvestToday, most churches would celebrate the Harvest Festival, focussing on the goodness of God in giving us nourishment through his creation. In ordinary times, the church building would be decorated in keeping with the theme, and people would bring produce to be distributed to those in need. We would share a meal and rejoice in fellowship. It is right to thank God for providing. There’s also good reason to look at the subject of harvest in a wider and metaphorical sense which is what the readings for today are hinting at.Keeping up appearances. When you hear those words, your first thought may be of a certain television show, in which one particular person tries to show herself off to her peers as more sophisticated than others. Or rather, she wants to fit in with a certain crowd, as a denial of her more humble origins. Whichever way you look at it, the storylines give us ample opportunity to laugh at her failed attempts, and sympathise with her long-suffering husband; after all, it’s only comedy.In today’s world, comedy works like parables, a bit like last week’s clergy joke. We can choose to identify with one or more of the characters and chuckle at absurdities that are not our own. Or we can stay aloof and say it never applies to us. Whether we see it as something that entertains us or offers some enlightenment into our own behaviour, the choice is ours.In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 21, we see Jesus at the Temple, and being challenged as to why he is there. Earlier, he had overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves and cured the blind and lame. The following day he was there again, teaching. The priests and elders came to him and began to question his authority: ‘Why are you doing these things? Who gave you the right to do this?’ Which was probably a nicer way of saying: ‘Who do you think you are?’ The Temple officials don’t get a straight answer, rather a question is asked back, about the baptism of John; whether they thought it came from heaven or was of human origin. Ah, now that’s tricky: if they say ‘From heaven’, then Jesus will say to them, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ And if they say, ‘Of human origin’, the crowd will take offence, because they all believe John is a prophet. In their minds, Jesus is just some upstart from Galilee, but he has a considerable following, so … They have to give an answer, so they decide to say they don’t know. ‘Well, in that case,’ says Jesus, ‘I won’t tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’ Jesus then tells a parable, about two sons, who are each told by their father to go and work in the vineyard today. One says, ‘Yes’ and doesn’t go. And the other says ‘No’, but changes his mind and does go. The latter, Jesus indicates, is the one who does the will of his father, and in the same way, the tax collectors and sinners – the despised groups of society – will be going into the kingdom of God ahead of the priests and Temple officials. In terms of harvest, those who were once out of God’s will have eventually shown fruitfulness with regard to the vineyard that is the kingdom of God. Because those who claim to be more religious than others nevertheless don’t really do what God says, therefore lacking in fruitfulness. But those who have first said ‘no’ to God and became lost in their lives, have later changed their lives around – have repented – and are counted among God’s people before the religious leaders, who thought so highly of themselves.Keeping up appearances. It doesn’t always work, as we well know. In the end, you’re always found out. That is a painful experience, no doubt. But even there God offers redemption. Philippians 2 encourages all to regard others as better than ourselves; to look not to our own interests, but to the interests of others. To look at Jesus, who, for love alone, was found to take on human form and die so that we might live. Acknowledge him as Lord, and you will find life in abundance. Then thank God for the harvest in more than one sense. To the glory of God the Father. Amen.
